Mobile Backhaul Takes a Page from Cloud Computing

The same logic that resulted in the creation of cloud-based data centers can be applied to cellular backhaul networks, according to the startup Parallel Wireless.

“Imagine you have three nodes talking to each other over wireless backhaul. If you pool resources, and if one [node] goes down, you can still leverage the other two,” Parallel Chief Technology Officer Rajesh Mishra says.

Parallel is using its Converged Wireless System (CWS) base station and HetNet Gateway orchestrator with its partners’ MEC technology. The CWS base stations connect to each other in a mesh fabric, while the HetNet Gateway aggregates all this backhaul capacity and makes it available for content delivery to eliminate backhaul bottlenecks with SDN policy-controlled dynamic content routing.

Parallel is betting that HetNets will be the most likely path to market for mobile edge computing as it addresses content delivery and backhaul challenges. The technology is currently being trialed, and more trials are being planned for the latter part of 2015.

Parallel’s CWS can improve backhaul conditions via two modes: License-assisted backhaul and unlicensed assist. In license-assisted mode, a HetNet Gateway might instruct the CWSs to offload video traffic over unlicensed spectrum while giving other types of traffic priority on the licensed spectrum. Unlicensed assist backhaul works on unlicensed spectrum and complements existing wired backhaul, providing resilience in a case of fixed-backhaul failure.

Linda Hardesty is Managing Editor at SDxCentral where she oversees the news coverage for a team of writers. She's been a trade journalist since the mid-1990s, alternately writing about telecommunications and energy. Prior to SDxCentral, she was editor of Energy Manager Today. Previously, she wrote for Cable World magazine and Communications Technology. Linda can be reached at lhardesty@sdxcentral.com.

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